Taiwan Jones Earns National Player of the Week Honors

Sep 28, 2009

Sophomore running back joins junior linebacker J.C.
Sherritt as Big Sky Players of the Week after leading now No. 17
Eastern to convincing 56-30 win at Sacramento State

Sophomore running back Taiwan Jones has been
honored nationally as this week's Sports Network
co-Offensive Player of the Week. In addition, he and junior
linebacker J.C. Sherritt have earned Big Sky
Conference Player of the Week honors after helping lead the Eastern
Washington University football team to a convincing 56-30 victory
at Sacramento State last Saturday (Sept. 26).

Jones shared the national honor with quarterback Tim Buckley
from Alcorn State, and shared the Big Sky honor with Montana
quarterback Andrew Selle and Weber State quarterback Cameron
Higgins. Sherritt, meanwhile, was honored by the league on defense
for the second-straight week.

Jones, who is from Antioch, Calif., and graduated from Deer
Valley High School in 2007, rushed for four touchdowns and had 190
yards on just 15 carries in EWU's win over the Hornets. Playing in
just his fourth game as a collegiate running back, his yardage
total was the 29th-most in school history, and the best by an Eagle
since Dezmon Cole had 199 versus Weber State on Oct. 23, 2004.

Coupled with 69 yards on three kickoff returns and a pass
reception for 20 yards, Jones finished with 279 all-purpose yards.
He averaged 12.7 yards per rush, and 14.7 yards the 19 times he
touched the ball as EWU finished the game with 537 yards of total
offense.

Sherritt (left), a 2006 graduate of Pullman (Wash.) High
School, had 15 tackles, with 2 1/2 for loss, two forced fumbles and
a fumble recovery as EWU improved to 3-1 overall this season and
2-0 in the Big Sky. The Eagles moved up two spots to 17th in this
week's Sports Network NCAA Football Championship Subdivision poll.

Sherritt has had three performances this season of 15 tackles,
helping him move into sixth in this week's NCAA Football
Championship Subdivision statistics. He is averaging 13.0 tackles
per game (total of 52), which leads the Big Sky. He also ranks
eighth nationally in tackles for loss with an average of 1.88 per
game.

So far this season, Jones has 665 all-purpose yards for averages
of 166.2 yards per game and 10.2 yards per touch. His average of
102.3 yards rushing per game leads the Big Sky and ranks 14th in
FCS, and he is also 11th nationally in all-purpose yards per game.
He has 409 rushing yards for the season and is averaging a lofty
8.3 yards per rush in an average of just over 12 carries per game.

"He's only played four games as a college running back, and he's
been a little injured too," said Eagle head coach Beau
Baldwin. "So he's going to get better with every carry,
and that's what is happening to him right now."

Jones had 164 all-purpose yards versus Northern Colorado on
Sept. 19, including 95 yards rushing on 18 carries. He also caught
a pass for 16 yards, returned a punt for one yard and returned a
kickoff 52 yards. His kickoff return would have been an 85-yard
touchdown, but a penalty nullified it. Last season, Jones had a
93-yard return for a touchdown versus the Bears. That return helped
convince the coaching staff to move him to running back in 2009 to
help replace four departed seniors at that position.

He had an 87-yard touchdown on his first career carry in EWU's
35-14 victory over Western Oregon on Sept. 5. It equaled EWU's
fifth-longest rush in school history, and was the longest for the
Eagles since 1997. It also equaled the longest in the Big Sky since
1989 when Eastern's Dominic Corr had a 92-yard scamper versus Idaho
State. The school record is 95 set by John Ditz against Lewis &
Clark in 1954.

Jones missed the early part of the 2008 season with a broken
fibula, but returned to start four games at cornerback for the
Eagles.

Sherritt was also honored by the Big Sky the previous week when
he had 15 tackles versus Northern Colorado on Sept. 19. Sherritt
was also selected as one of four National All-Stars by College
Sporting News for his performance against the Bears. Three of the
tackles were for losses, including one on a third down play that
forced the Bears to punt. He also recovered a fumble, one of four
turnovers the Eagles forced in the 16-0 shutout.

"J.C. has played great in three-straight games," said head coach
Beau Baldwin after the shutout against Northern
Colorado, but he could have made the same comments after the Sac
State game. "He has consistently been in double-digit tackles and
is always around the ball. He's a great player and a great leader
for us."